got an ace hand
So today, skipping around the Internet as you do, I came across this blog, Love From the Asexual Underground and it got me thinking about asexuality and fictional characters. I guess before I start babbling about this, I should add that, uh, I do not have a lot of information on asexuality. I have the basic idea down: there are people who are not
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It's awesome to know that there are other people that also assume characters are more asexual until canon says otherwise. I think I'm pretty alone in my opinion of Zell, although in an above comment, I realized that what I was really trying to say is that Zell is oblivious to sexual overtones in my mind. Which does not equal asexual, although is still kind of unusual for a teenage dude. I think? Anyway, I can definitely see the not asexual side of things for Zell, too. And, um, am a huge Seifer/Zell fan, if that tells you anything.
I would love to hear your thoughts! I may ask you to explain odd asexual lingo, since I'm pretty new to this whole thing, but really, 90% of the reason I posted this was to get other people's ideas, so!
I blame thebaconfat for my love of asexual!Biggs/Wedge.
Also, AWESOME, I'm totally going to bookmark that Sherlock community to look through later. Although maybe I should catch up on Sherlock first, I only saw the first and third episodes.)
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huge Seifer/Zell fan who isn't? There is always demisexuality (or perhaps he is just a "grey-A")! And I could totally see Zell as being either of those things rather than fully asexual, though just plain oblivious is also about right, haha. Oh, Zell. XD It does seem pretty weird for any teenager to be so blind to sexual overtones. Part of me wants to pin that in part on the whole "going to a military academy-thing" different mindsets et al, but then of course plenty of other characters have no problems pointing things out. (He does seem to at least understand aesthetic attraction and comes across as pretty clearly not aromantic, even if he doesn't necessarily know much beyond that, but that is neither here nor there.)
Demisexual is how I end up thinking of most characters that canon proves to be non-asexual, actually. Though, I mean, there are certainly plenty of characters who are just sexual, end discussion, and I certainly do not have a problem with that, but we are not really counting them here (uh, fair warning, if you go poking around for asexuality-related stuff, you will probably run into the entirely bewildering pockets of people who have a major hate-on for asexuals. It is alarmingly brutal stuff). And I will freely admit my tendency to dump characters into the "demisexual" box is probably entirely related to my own complete failure to really understand primary sexual attraction... (And, of course, saying that, I'd probably put both Quistis and Rinoa in the grey-A category.)
What d'you think of Kiros and Ward, by the way? I'm torn between "Laguna's babysitters asexual life-partners sort of like Biggs and Wedge, there" and "totally boyfriends who are possibly still a bit annoyed that their threesome plans keep getting interrupted by heterosexuality" (which is the real reason it's so hard to get the date with Barret in FFVII, to turn this into an even worse joke). (Though while we're on the subject of FFVII, and speaking of being the only person in the world to feel [x] way about [x] character... Sephiroth? Completely asexual and aromantic. Nothing in the 'verse will convince me otherwise.)
In my opinion, the middle episode of Sherlock is the weakest of the three, but yes! I would still recommend watching it.
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Also hey, my icon's keywords are relevant for once!
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By which I mean, it is actually really... gratifying, I guess is the closest word I can think of, to find out that there is a word for that. Like it makes my characters (...and me, honestly) more legitimate somehow. >___> Oh, identifying labels, I wish you weren't so important, because you screw so many things up.
Uh. Anyway. Thank you for broadening my vocabulary! And now that I have those in my tool belt, I'll go ahead and say that yeah, I think of Zell more as grey/demisexual with a lot of obliviousness going on, too. Maybe leaning more towards the sexual side of grey-A, but yeah. Also, Baco and I were just talking about the military academy and sex thing, and how weird it is that Garden has that rule about no promiscuity when you hardly see anyone displaying an interest, except for all the Trepies, maybe.
In video games, where the basis is usually on plot and action, I also tend to identify everyone as demisexual. Or in movies that aren't all about romance. (Tangent time: I think of James Bond, even, as grey-A, in that sex to him is a tool and not necessarily something that he really wants. Wish is why I think it makes a lot of sense for him to have sex with dudes as well as ladies, but that's going in a whole different direction.)
...actually, in most TV shows, I do the same thing. Scrubs is one of the few shows I've watched that almost all the characters read as sexual to me.
(It makes me really disturbed how many people on the Internet seem to think it's okay to be so brutal when talking about things they aren't. Like asexuality. Or fat people. Or women who don't want to be raped. D:)
ANYWAY. Back to FFVIII! I agree about Quistis and Rinoa being grey-A. I've always been torn between the same options for Kiros and Ward! Also, hee hee, babysitters, it's so true. And it's kind of interesting, because while I think Kiros and Ward are great buddies and should never be separated, I've always got the impression that they are far more interested in Laguna than each other.
I've always considered Sephiroth to be asexual and aromantic myself. I've read some really good fic with him, uh, having sex with Cloud and Zach, but my Sephiroth is not interested.
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It is pretty strange, isn't it? On the other hand, those staff guys are pretty scary, and god help you if the Disciplinary Committee are the ones that catch you. Better to just keep everything well under wraps. (And, of course, wearing Squall's POV as we do, maybe he just steers clear of things, by coincidence, intent, or just as a side-affect of his avoiding everyone/thing, and we miss seeing it.)
Not that you can blame Kiros and Ward for being so interested in Laguna. The things he gets himself into... how is it even possible? (Maybe they are scientists trying to solve the puzzle that is his continued existence.)
(It is really disturbing and distressing the things you see people say online. And confusing, though in this case I hope it never makes any sort of sense to me.)
Sephiroth with either Cloud or Zack - or both, why not! - seems to be sort of unavoidable, haha (well okay sometimes he is with Aerith or ... whoever else, or someone's original character/probably self-insert.) And there are some good works out there! But my favourites will always be the ones where the author seems to share our opinion.
... also i think am going to friend you if that is okay?
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I can't really blame Cid for being a bit spineless when it comes to NORG, I mean... geez. He's some kind of mob boss or something, and I really wish that whole... thing had been explained a bit better. Some kind of sidequest, or maybe it could have been worked into the Shumi Village sidequest? I dunno. SOMETHING. (Oh, man, I really like that idea, that there's all sorts of things going on in Garden that we don't know about simply because Squall is avoidant and/or it doesn't even register. Which strikes me as vaguely Silent Hill 2-ish, except less, uh, horrible.) What do you think of Seifer and Rinoa's pre-game relationship, while we're at it? I've always been torn about what exactly happened there.
(Hee hee, I have a new headcanon now. Kiros and Ward follow Laguna around FOR SCIENCE! So many hearts.)
I was poking through your icons and I see you have played FFXIII! TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF THE CHARACTERS THERE AND ASEXUALITY. (You know, if you want.) Or, uh, just your take on your favorite characters.
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I still do not know what to think of Seifer and Rinoa's relationship! The Cynical Asexual in my mind grumbles a lot about "everything is overly sexual these days" and "those darn teenagers" and then half of me doesn't really see it as having been that way at all, that they were probably too busy working on ridiculous plans to free Timber to really bother with much in the way of the physical components of your supposed typical teen relationship. Basically, part of me thinks we were supposed to interpret it as romantic/possibly sexual and the other half is like BAH HOW BORING.
(Right? Now that I've said it, I can't unsee it. I would read that fic.)
I will just talk about my favourites. OH WAIT. ALL OF THE CHARACTERS FROM XIII ARE MY FAVOURITES umm. I see Snow and Serah as being all cutesy romantic wait that is canon and probably moving more towards sexual post-game. So probably grey-A for them (you will notice a trend where I almost never pin a character as fully sexual). Hope, I don't even know, I think he is too young for my brain to really think of him as a/sexual/other yet, but he is definitely at least romantic. (I mean, I know kids younger than 14 are sexual active and all, but my brain just… can't comprehend it, I guess? Silly mental wiring!) Sazh, um, HE IS THE ADOPTIVE PARENT. Which does not answer the question, but I've filed him under demisexual, which is possibly unfair because I am pretty sure it is directly related to me seeing him as EVERYONE'S FATHER. Fang and Vanille I see as gray-A leaning towards sexual, while Lightning I see as grey-A leaning towards asexual (and they are all three girlfriends - and it is probably because of that, there, that I pinned them as grey rather than demi. I mean, it is not as if XIII takes place over a very long amount of time).
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I could sort of actually see Rinoa trying to initiate sexy times, part of Seifer's mind be like, awwww yeah and the rest of him being like WHAT WHAT DON'T SHOW HER YOU HAVE ANY VULNERABILITIES! I really do think that they spent way more time working out ridiculous plans to free Timber than anything else. But yeah, I also get the feeling I'm supposed to think they were maybe actually dating, or something.
(It could start out that they're on a mission to discover how this is possible and it would end with them becoming buddies with him and, after having discovered that he somehow has some sort of aura that warps the probability space time continuum, they need to choose between their loyalty to SCIENCE! and their loyalty to him. SCIENTIST-MILITARY BUDDY MOVIE, AW YEAH)
I basically agree with everything you say! I'm always a little weirded to see fic in which Hope and Lightning get paired up, but, I mean, like you said. A lot of people hit puberty with sex drives intact way before 14, soooo. Uh. If he has those thoughts, he can deal with them on his own, and I will just not pay attention, okay. And I think I could maybe see Sazh hitting on ladies his own age, but... yeah. I really love that it's kind of a non-issue in the game! (He is totally everyone's father figure, though. SO MANY HEARTS FOR SAZH AND VANILLE'S STORY ARC, oh my gossshhh.)
Lightning sort of pings me as demisexual, in that she has very little sex drive until someone sneaks into her heart (someone like Fang) and then she's like, what are these feelings? I will deal with them poorly! (It makes me really happy to find someone else who has them all be girlfriends, actually! Most of my friends consider Fang and Vanille to be sisters, FOR SURE, and I need to replay the game before I decide, but. Fang and Vanille kind of read as lovers to me. >__> I kind of see their threesome relationship start with a V, Fang the middle point, and ending in a triangle. MAYBE TOO MUCH INFORMATION?) (Also, feel free to argue other points if you have other ideas, it's seriously been awhile since I played the game and I would love to hear your thoughts/evidence. I enjoy talking about characters and picking their actions apart. :D)
I still can't decide whether I think Lightning actually, you know, ever had the chance to do anything (sexual-ish) during the game, since as you said, XIII goes pretty quickly. And while I am babbling about things, I kind of see Fang and Lighting as aromantic for the most part, Vanille as romantic.
And now I really want to play the game again.
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(How long do you think it took them to notice they'd been affected, as well? Or maybe someone had to point it out. "You're supposed to be studying the phenomenon, not befriending it!")
I would play an entire game devoted solely to the adorable father-daughter adventures of Sazh and Vanille wait canon pretty much covered that one, too, didn't it. Seriously. I need to just buy a PS3 already so that I can replay it (it has been almost a year since I finished it, wow). But then I will be sad if, on the replay, I decide I was wrong the first time through and that Fang and Vanille are really more like sisters. It does seem to be a fairly common interpretation, after all. But for now I am going to merrily continue on with the happy threesome idea. (Which, in my mind, plays out pretty much the same way you see it, with Fang between the other two at first.)
As for whether or not they ever actually did anything, uh. Good question, haha! Maybe if they split into two groups and went in separate directions to look around at any point while down on Gran Pulse (hey, there were a lot of those Cie'th stones, you could use those as an excuse if "splitting up on an unfamiliar-to-most world full of large, scary things wanting to kill everyone" sounds like a bad idea), or if they spent a night in Oerba or something and declared GIRLS' ROOM and BOYS' ROOM. … I don't know if Lightning would know how to be romantic if she had to.
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